New PS3 Hack Allegedly Allows Pirates to Play New Games

The USB dongle, a follow-up to the PSJailbreak device, can apparently boot burned copies of games that

The shadier corners of the Internet are reporting that a new hack has been released for the PlayStation 3, allowing pirates to play illegally copied games, including the newest releases.

According to videos like the one above and forum posts around the Web, the hack is a successor to the PSJailbreak, released in 2010. Like its predecessor, the so-called JB2 is a USB dongle that's plugged straight into the console before startup, compromising security measure built into the boot sequence and allowing the user to execute unsigned code.

The most important of these is the ability to play new releases. When Sony went after security holes with the 3.60 firmware upgrade, they began including mandatory updates with new games in an attempt to defeat piracy. While the JB2 allegedly still relies on old exploits from the 3.55 firmware (and therefore prevents access to the PSN), it also includes the ability to run newer pirated games off of burned Blu-ray discs, bypassing Sony's forced upgrade scheme.

It's unclear whether the solution will allow for universal piracy, but preliminary reports out of Indonesia, where the device is allegedly already in circulation, seem to imply that games will have to be cracked on an individual basis in order to run properly. In addition, only games released before 3.60 will be able to run from the console's hard drive, meaning anyone without a Blu-ray burner will need to acquire their pirate games from black market sellers.

Though the JB2 is still largely unconfirmed, PS3Crunch.net reports the device exists and does everything rumored, adding that it will retail for around $45 when it launches worldwide in the coming weeks.